Neighbours of convicted recall friendly presence, criminal past

A neighbour said, “Iqbal was a friendly person… He ran a provision store and was not financially sound but none of us believed he could be involved in such a heinous act. The family has a couple of apartments in the building… His mother passed away a few years ago after waiting in hope that she would see him again… His father also passed away after his arrest.”

Iqbal’s brother, who is into designing LED signboards, refused to comment about the Tuesday’s verdict but a friend said, “The order was expected and the family was prepared… The charges against him were so serious that it would have been foolish to think that he would be pronounced innocent. We still do not know whether he was really involved but if he is, then he should receive the punishment.”

In Imran Shaikh’s neighbourhood in Taiwada area, near the Vadodara Crime Branch office, there is disbelief that a “simple, family man” could be involved in a terror act. Imran has been accused of providing his home for assembling bombs used in the blast.

A neighbour said, “The family was poor and he (Imran) seemed to be making a living by selling saris… His father was very ill and they were under heavy debts. We do not recall seeing anything unusual but if the court has convicted him, we cannot deny the charges.” Imran’s wife and children, too, had travelled to Ahmedabad on Tuesday, neighbours said.
Brothers Rafiuddin Sarquddin Kapadia and Qayamuddin Kapadia from Wadi area, said to be key conspirators and close aide of Safdar Nagori, were also among the convicted. While the family was unavailable, local residents said they had “no connection” with the two brothers, who were involved in a sinister terror plot across the country.

“Qayamuddin was on the run for long even before the Ahmedabad blasts… Many times, police officers visited the area to question people if the brothers had come visiting… In fact, many of us were harassed for information even after the Jaipur blasts, in which he was said to be involved. Police came from different states… We are not surprised by this verdict,” a neighbour said.

The family of the fifth convict Mohammad Usman Agarbattiwala was not available for comment but sources said, “The boy mended his ways at the insistence of his family after his name was mentioned in a case against SIMI in 2001… But he paid a price for his past associations with SIMI,” the source said.